[WS:] So what exactly is that sense, and how do you know that most people use it? Most people where, in the US, EU, worldwide? Please do tell.
PS. Lijphart (one of the source I quoted) comes up with a good operational definition of democracy - but that definition is not exactly what "most people" use. In fact he argues that the US concept of democracy is very much different from that in Europe. I may add that "most people" in the US use the term "democracy" in the same way they use "god" - something that evokes good feelings and is on "our side" but otherwise devoid of any specific meaning.
Wojtek
On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 10:09 AM, Matthias Wasser <matthias.wasser at gmail.com
> wrote:
> > There are many examples in European history demonstrating that strong
> > states
> > were also the most democratic ones. I really recommend Peter B. Evans,
> > Dietrich Rueschemeyer & Theda Skocpol, eds., 1985, *Bringing the State
> Back
> > In*, Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press - it provides an excelent
> > collection of case studies showing that point. Another recommendation:
> > Arendt
> > Lijphart, 1999, *Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms & Performance in
> > Thirty Six Countries*, New Haven: Yale University Press that that
> > parliamentary democracies prevailing in Europe and majoritarian system
> > prevaikling in English speaking countries.
> >
> > Of course it does not mean that a strong state is automatically
> democratic
> > -
> > but that it can guarantee a democracy under certain conditions, wheras a
> > weak state will almost certainly become a tool of repression in the hands
> > of
> > the wealthy.
> >
> > Wojtek
>
>
> Are you using "democracy" here in the sense that you personally defined it
> upthread, or in the sense that most people use it?
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>